Sunday, 6 July 2014

Black & White Sunday... and how I came to be

Now don't worry after looking at the title of the post, I am not about to tell you the canine birds and bees! This is purely a post about how I came to be in Hoomans life.

Hooman waited a very long time to have me - 29 years in total! She fell in love with a little golden spaniel called Lucy when she was just 7 years old, who belonged to a classmate. Her parents later on decided to get a dog, but against all pleading and begging, they decided to get a male Bichon Frisé, called Tigger. It just wasn't the same, and he didn't belong to her!

Hooman then spent 17 years living in North London - she loved it there, but living costs plus dog care was prohibitively expensive, and it was still a pipe dream to have the little golden girly she still dreamt about.

And then, rumours started at work. Whispers of "relocation", and "Buckinghamshire" started. They were true. Two years after the rumours started, a huge number of company employees were uprooted and moved to a brand new office. Hooman commuted for a while, but after just a couple of months, she decided to just move herself here. With "I need a house that allows a dog" being first on the agenda with local agents. Not easy, but she persevered, and finally found a little house with the woods and meadows nearby.

A couple of months after moving in, Hooman started the search, emailing 45 breeders from the Kennel Club on the off-chance they had, or knew about golden puppies. She was firm - it had to be cocker, a bitch and red/gold. She started getting a little despondent - some breeders told her they wouldn't consider her even though she had daycare arrangements in place, others told her she wanted a black, or a blue roan instead, even trotting out old myths about reds having temperament issues.

And then the email arrived, from one of the most famous kennels in the country. "My pregnant bitch is sat next to me as I type, and she is due next week. Reds...." She also said that Hooman would be second on the list for a girl, so there had to be at least two girls! It was a long wait and them a week later, Hooman woke up to an email - 2 boys and 2 girls!

Three weeks later, Hooman made the long journey to meet me for the first time. When she first saw us, she was speechless (that doesn't happen often!) and spent the next two hours just cuddling me and my sister. She always was drawn to me, but waited till six weeks to see our personalities. I was trying to climb her to nibble on her chin - it was love at first sight. Hooman even came up with all our kennel names - I am Lochranza Lady of the Lake (Hooman thinks now it should have been "bog"). And Louise (the breeder) has been amazing ever since, with advice when needed, grooming lessons, and Hooman and her can talk and talk for HOURS!!

Eleven weeks after that first email (with a lot of shopping in between), she brought me home and we have been inseperable ever since!

I hope you have enjoyed reading about how Hooman and me came together - just goes to show that even the longest wait can be worth it...